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bepisbee · 5 months

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Take me back to eden

based on this post https://www.tumblr.com/c-is-for-circinate/731826400486653952?source=share

“The eyes are the window to the soul, they say. An important part of you. Part of you we brought back haha,” He cupped Shadow’s cheeks in his hands “I am so glad you are here.” Shadow was overwhelmed at the moment in conflicting emotions. “Welcome back.”

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He was suddenly and painfully, very painfully, aware. Everything was wrong. His body felt too big, he couldn’t get enough air. There were black spots covering the majority of his vision. Shadow's body gasped air into his lungs, retching him upright with the force. Too many things slammed into him at once, his head felt detached from his body and dizzy. If he could see the room would be spinning wildly. Shadow could hear voices but not make out what was being said. Gulping in air fast, then slowly ebbing out to normalcy. It quenched the ache in his chest. The burning sensation faded. Someone was gripping his left hand tightly. Something hard and cold was under him. Stone? As he blinked the black blurred into shapes. Tunnel vision faded as his body finally calmed down. He still felt too big at the moment.

“Can you hear me?” A familiar voice was in his ear, soft and concerned. More mature than he last remembered. Was it possible?? Shadow looked over and met his eyes at last. Unique ice blue as sharp as glass filled his vision. Until it got blurry with tears. There would never be any mistake whose eyes those were. His heart thumped loud in his ears as blood rushed back into his system. Something in the eye contact was beginning to bring up a fight or flight response.

Shadow had a feeling it wasn’t to do with his sudden consciousness.

Vio sat next to him on a hard cold stone floor. Hand interlaced with Shadow’s clawed fingers. Shadow nodded at him yes to the question. Vio being the first sight since he’d died, it made him breathless. It was almost enough to shake off the strange chill that ran up his spine when he met his gaze. Something putting goosebumps and hairs on end in an unfamiliar way. At least the feeling of running from immediate danger had gone away.

“Hey.” Shadow’s voice was rough and dry. His lips stuck a little when he opened them to speak. A shorter version of Vio, wearing a red cat shirt, handed over a glass potion bottle. He took it gratefully. After chugging the refreshing liquid magic he finally realized who was all around him, his senses coming back but by bit. Kneeling down was Red, who gave him the potion. Green, a little ways back standing up. Blue halfway between, watching. He couldn’t read their expressions from here. Vio. His beautiful Vio. His dry lips split as he smiled to his eyes. Shining bright and pretty as ever. Vio melted.

“The eyes are the window to the soul, they say. An important part of you. Part of you we brought back haha,” He cupped Shadow’s cheeks in his hands “I am so glad you are here.”

Shadow was overwhelmed at the moment in conflicting emotions.

“Welcome back.”

Shadow was now sitting on a large old jean blue couch. Its cushions restuffed (overstuffed) to pure comfort. The small home was new to him of course. As was everything inside it. It had been a few days since he woke up and things had been a roller coaster. After some serious private conversation with Vio, they had decided on a trial relationship. There were many things to air out between them and trust to rebridge. Shadow tucked himself up, knees underneath like a cat loaf. He was wearing Vio’s ratty black hoodie. He had said it was a five “ex el” so it was ginormous on them both. Shadow had a lot to learn about the world. It had been interesting enough when he barely saw it but now that he had the time? Technology amazed him, as limited as they had right now.

Vio had explained they owned a cottage in Faron Woods. Well he did anyways. The others lived in Hyrule City, where they could walk to work at the castle. They had rebuilt and recovered quite well. Shadow hummed in thought, looking down at the bowl of stew in his hands. It has been ten years so it wasn't surprising life was normal again. Vio claimed to be a potion curator. Creator, herbalist, and magic influencer. He seemed hesitant to talk in detail about it.

Steam rose up from the bowl. Shadow needed to get used to this whole eating thing. The others were currently working on projects, (Blue and Green), cooking, (Red, who had woken him for this delicious smelling meal) or somewhere. He wasn't actually sure where Vio was at the moment.

He had been getting a nagging feeling they weren’t telling him something. Everyone on the surface was smiling, laughing, talking, and teaching. There was something in it though. Smiles that didn’t quite reach their eyes, nervous glances at each other when they don't think he’s looking. Not to mention how cold he felt down his spine when making eye contact with Vio. Shadow had been doing his best to put it aside. How would he even ask something like that without making it sound bad?

“ -ot feeling stew or too hot?” Shadow jumped, startled at Vio’s sudden voice. Speak of the devil.

“Ha sorry.” He laughed it off. He genuinely was happy to see him. “Just thinking about you actually,“ he put the bowl down on the coffee table in the middle and patted the seat next to him. Vio sat, one long graceful leg over the other. A strange chill filled the air again.

“What've you been up to? I couldn’t find ya.” Shadow leaned against him barely. Vio leaned back. They were still learning each other's boundaries and touch starvation made things complicated on both ends.

Shadow’s skin felt warm and tingly where they made contact.

“I’m sorry, I got lost in some research. You know me and books.” He nervously tucked some hair behind his pointed ear. A habit he had picked up a while ago.

“Down in your super secret locked basement of doom?” Shadow teased. It had 5 deadbolts and a magic seal. His memory of waking up was hazy enough he knew it was downstairs, but not much else about it.

“There’s dangerous equipment and ingredients. Red spilled something once and burned a hole in the floor.” Vio smiled fondly. “I’ll spend all of tomorrow with you, to make up for it.” the blonde hesitated a little before running a hand through his purple locks. “How about a little bath? I have these soap things that we call bath bombs.”

“Bath bombs??” Shadow perked up. He liked explosives.

“You put them in water and they… well you’ll see it.” Vio chuckled at his excitement. “They are surprisingly easy to make…” he began talking about how to make the soaps, scents, and compress it. Shadow sort of listened. The longer he sat close to Vio the more he noticed the slightly off smell. Not bad or stinky necessarily, just different. Usually it was his lavender soap, maybe some incense. Today it was different. It reminded him of the dark world portals he used to plague the world with. Strange herbs and weird fire. Shadow mentally shook it out of his head. There was no way. He must just be thinking about the past too much.

Shadow helped clean up some dishes, much to his grumbling. Red claimed it was to help him get better with helping people. While he was washing, hands all full of soap he had an idea. He grinned and slowly snuck up behind the red hero bubbles a plenty. Just as he was about to prank he noticed: the distant look. Red’s eyes were flat, plain, no light. Just staring off creepily. An offset frown on his face. It was the first he had ever seen a frown on Red, even during their adventure. Shadow paused for too long getting his attention.

“O-oh! Sorry! Did you need something?” Red went back to his cheery self but it was empty. Shadow shook his head and went back to the sink. That really weirded him out.

“I'm going to go to bed soon, I think Vio said for you to meet him in the bath when you were done? G'night shadow! ~’

“Alright!” He called back to his retreating form. “Erm- thanks!” Shadow remembered. They had tried to teach him about politeness. Whatever was going on with them he did not want to rock the boat.

Shadow kept replaying the odd scenarios over and over. He finished setting all the dishes on a drying rack and let the water go down the drain. “Fuck. I’m sure it’s just me…” shadow took a deep breath and headed over down the hall. It started smelling very strong like soap and herbs.

He gently opened the bathroom door. No he did not open the wrong door first and blush about it, thank you very much.

Vio was waiting for him, reading while sitting on a counter. “Ah! Hey,” he put it away. “Good timing.” The bath was luxurious! A giant tub that you feel the warm water of making the room humid. He handed Shadow a small chalky ball that was purple and dried but with something inside. Flower petals??

“Hey,” Shadow looked it over and was about to lick it.

“Do not!” Vio laughed. “You put it into the water.”

“I know!” Shadow flushed. He did not know. He stepped over and put it in. It seemed to spark to life. The tiny ball started fizzing and rolling around in the hot tub water. “Woaaah!” It started to turn it into a deep purple color that sparkled. The tiny petals floating at the top. It smelled of lilac and honey.

Vio put a hand on his shoulder. “If you step in, I’ll wash you?” Vio looked a bit uncomfortable and vulnerable. This was a big step for them. This almost felt more intimate than some of the things he’d read in Vio’s secret book stash.

Shadow did as told. Thankful Vio had turned around while he derobed. He almost missed the cute blush on his face. The blonde only turned around when he heard Shadow stop moving. “This is so warm!” He sank into bliss. Vio knelt down by the edge and rolled up his sleeves. It was almost scandalous. He never showed any skin afterall. There were some battle scars but not anything that seemed too concerning.

They spent the next while talking while Vio washed his hair and showed him to clean up. As peaceful and serene this moment was, an anxiety formed in his gut. Shadow tried to push it down but it just would not go away. Vio seemed to be the only color fully presently aware when making eye contact. That was almost worse. It felt intense, like a predator about to strike. And he knew that feeling, for Hylia’s sake he had a dragon! Shadow’s shoulders remained tense.

“It’s alright if this is too much for you,” The ever observant Vio noticed. “I can stop-”

“No! No- I uhhh…” shadow raised his wet hands up. “I'm just not used to this sorta thing!”

“If you're sure… I think it’s probably time to get out and dry anyway. The water is turning cold.” Vio stood up. “There's a plug in the bottom can you reach? You just pull it out.” He turned to grab a fluffy towel from the small cupboard. Shadow leaned down and did so. A sharp spike of fear struck his back upright afterwards for showing his back to Vio. But when he looked, he was still in the cupboard fiddling until he found a black towel. Shadow let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding and stood up carefully. He was warned the water was slippery.

Shadow took the offered towel and dried up, the wrapped it around his waist haphazardly. He had no idea what he was doing and the panic was rising as much as he tried to bottle it up. Something wasn’t right. It was awkwardly quiet on the walk to their room. Him and Vio shared since there were only two in the small cottage. The others were sharing the guest room and rotating who slept on the couch.

They changed into pajamas avoiding eye contact. Shadows of course was just some of Vio’s old clothes. When he brought up shopping (stealing really) something for his own it was shut down hard. Faster than reasonable honestly. More so about going into the city. Shadow supposed it was reasonable, he did terrorize them after all. But it had also been ten years since, and surely no one would question their heroes?

They slipped into the bed and eventually Vio fell asleep.

It had been very hard for Shadow to sleep next to him. At first he thought it was lingering feelings over Vio’s betrayal. He was sure that was still part of it. But not all.

It must have been well past midnight when Shadow snuck up. Careful not to disturb Vio, he crept downstairs. He needed to know. He wrapped the loose long edges of Vio’s sweater around his palms in comfort as he slowly walked to the basement door. Tunnel vision prevented any other thought. Need to see, need to know. He reached up and undid all the locks. It was just his pure luck that this night Vio had forgotten to reseal the magic. Maybe it was him sitting on the couch? Or a slip of carelessness. It didn’t matter. The door opened. It was darker than the abyss that had trapped him so many years.

His mind whirled back to that first day. Less than a week ago now, that still felt like years. Just out of reach. It smelled the same as Vio had when he approached earlier. Like dark magic.

Shadow took each step down slowly, unsure in the darkness. Feeling the walls as he went for any sort of switch or even a candle. He found one at the base of the steps. It flickered the overhead light in a dingy barely lit yellow. It flickered and buzzed. The room of course was made of stone, as most basements were. There was a small white container in the corner, shelves upon shelves of things, a cauldron in the middle. Jars of specimens, parts, preserved roots, all things that would seem normal for an alchemist to have, lined the shelves and table. It was creepy but not out of the ordinary. He noticed drag lines near the bookshelf. Way to make your secret liar obvious, Vio. He smiled a little. It gave him nostalgia. As he pulled aside the shelf he found another room. There was no stash or storage. It looked savage and It all came back to him at once. This was the room he woke up in. He could feel the unnaturally cold hard floor. It was a giant mirror surface, or at least appeared to be. Shiny inky blackness of a dark mirror on the floor. A circle with some kind of writing he didn’t recognize the language of sat in the middle. He had enough experience to know that it was dried blood that spelled out whatever ritual he had been part of. Shadow’s whole body felt cold. This entire room, the second he stepped into it, felt absolutely utterly wrong. He had been in the presence of evil, hells he was evil until very shortly to the end of his life! This was something darker. More malicious. The floor under him swirled about not acknowledging his presence.

A sharp chill shocked his spine. Something was wrong. He felt watched. That first instinct he had had on this floor: the fight or flight. It was kicking in and he was freezing instead.

In hindsight, VIo thought, he should have double checked the door as he usually did. Tonight he was just so ecstatic that Shadow seemed more reciprocating to his touch and advances. He just didn't think about it. His revived partner was happy, warm, in his clothes. Vio’s breath came quicker now, looking around. Shadow wasn’t in bed, wasn’t in the bathroom, or the kitchen. Options to where he could be were running slim and he didn’t like the odds. He glanced over now, at the partially ajar basement door. Shit.

Shadow meanwhile looked around in paranoia. He shuddered and when he turned to look again from the corner of his eye he saw eyes watching him inside the mirror. He quickly faced them as they disappeared. Whose were those?? It happened again. Lingering longer than last time. Three pairs stayed this time. He couldn't look away. It was Link. Or well, his parts anyways. Something clicked for him.

He wasn’t sure why but something Vio had said to him after waking up.

“The eyes are the window to the soul, they say.”

What had he done?

As true panic began to set in, making him hyperventilate, a sudden force knocked his world into blackness.

Shadow woke up the next morning with a minor headache and a start. “Ha! Whuh??” He looked around. His movement woke a bleary-eyed Vio in the process.

“Huh? Whas?” Vio mumbled rubbing his eyes and sitting up. “Ok?”

“Oh.” Everything felt fine. He was exactly where he had been the night before. Vio was where he had been when he fell asleep. Fell asleep?? When did he fall asleep?

“Are you alright Shadow? You were kicking in your sleep, was it a nightmare? I’m sorry, maybe I should have woken you… but I’ve read it’s better to let nightmares sort themselves out…” Vio sleepily supplied. Shadow started. A nightmare…. Of course! That’s why his brain was foggy about what he saw. There was no way the other colors would have let Vio make a giant floor dark mirror in his basement, let alone sacrifice their own souls to bring him back.

“Sorry. I… I don’t even really remember what it was about now.” He laughed nervously. Vio did not catch onto his lie. “Can we have some of that tea? The Sharp one.”

“Chai?” “Yeah! Ch eye!” Shadow beamed at him, once again stuffing down his body response. Vio smiled back and got up. “I’ll be right back then.” He left to go downstairs.

Shadow let out his breath, his body still tensed up. He knew exactly what happened. He knew it was no dream or nightmare. Maybe one day he would be willing to accept that.

A thought occurred to him though, as VIo left the room. He didn’t remember seeing Green after the first day in the basement. He didn’t remember seeing Blue on the couch where he was supposed to be sleeping last night. He couldn’t hear Red humming from the kitchen today…

Downstairs, the door had a new magical seal on it. This time, to keep anything in rather than out.

Vio glanced only briefly at it, before heading back upstairs. He needed to make sure Shadow couldn’t see them anymore after all. He brought up the tea where Shadow was waiting.

#chili writes #four swords #shadow link #vidow #vio link #legend of zelda #implied/referenced character death #fluff and angst

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uesp · 1 year

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"It is a great irony that summoning a daedra is a relatively simple matter, but banishing them, not so. You wouldn't happen to have the power to cast the standard circinate spell Banish Daedra, would you?"

--A mage lamenting the difficulty of sending Daedra back to Oblivion.

#UESP #Lore #The Elder Scrolls #Daggerfall

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mycrappyrpsideblog · 3 months

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Circin: ^o Hey Cerigo. ^o We never really got around to that talk I figured we should have. ^o Do you have time to get lunch sometime soon? 👉👈

Kyaaaah! Oh em Gee! Stay cool Cerigo! You don't want to freak him out by getting too excited!

"Yeah! Like totally. My schedule is pretty flexible so just tell me a time and I'll make some time for you.

#Cerigo #asks

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thebashfulbotanist · 2 years

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More bryophyte love - I’m truly wretched at identifying these, but I think we have, clockwise from the top, Hyloconium splendens, a Polytrichum species with Cladonia lichen, Plagiomium insigne, Conocephalum conicum, Rhytidiopsis robusta, Hypnum circinal with Dicranum above, and Dicranum scoparium. Could be wrong, though! Byrophytes are the hard-mode of plant identification!

#I talked with the other member of this blog #turns out we have a similar method which is use a key then guess then pray #Plants of Washington State

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darkfeanix · 1 year

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In Which I Read Dragonflight

So after observing references to this "Dragonriders of Pern" series passively for several years, I recently decided to see if it was worth a look. To my immense gratitude, @c-is-for-circinate wrote out a very nice explanation and recommendation here. Having now finished the first book they suggested, Dragonflight, I wanted to share my thoughts.

(Also, I've just realised the second book they recommended was Dragonsdawn, not Dragonquest, which is the one I thoughtlessly jumped into after finishing Dragonflight. Oh well, I guess I'll be checking out Dragsondawn next.)

Thoughts under the cut. Spoilers for Dragonflight, and to a lesser degree Dragonquest, naturally.

So all things considered, I did end up enjoying Dragonflight. I really liked Lessa as a protagonist, and F'lar as the handsome man who sweeps in to sweep the protagonist off their feet, even if I did get frustrated with him from time to time.

I loved the dragons. After 10+ years of Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon, where dragons are intelligent but still largely bestial in nature, it was a thrill to read about dragons communicating directly with their riders. I also found it interesting that McCaffrey includes an introduction (prologue? I was listening to the audiobook and don't remember how it was titled) that explicitly goes into the history of Pern as a science fiction setting rather than fantasy. I know that it had that backstory, but I had assumed it was something that would come out over time, not be made plain before the story even started.

To be clear, I'm a huge fan of the worldbuilding. I'm a sucker for stories where society has forgotten its scientific origins and so marvellous achievements of times past come to be regards as magic.

Speaking of times past: was not expecting time travel in this story! Somehow managed to avoid spoiling myself about that until I reached it in the story. I thought it was quite cleverly woven, with serious enough consequences that overuse of it could end up being disastrous. Unfortunately, I did spoil myself regarding its use in the story's climax, but even then, I thought it was set up so well that if I hadn't known ahead of time I think it would have been really satisfied with it.

Other random things of note:

When the story first introduced Fax, and as we learn more about what an awful person he is, I initially found it hard to take it seriously. "What a cartoonish villain," I thought to myself. And then I thought a bit harder and realised we have people like that in the real world; people with that same sense of entitlement, who think they can do and say and take anything with no consequences. After that he felt a lot less cartoonish, and a lot more satisfying when he met his end.

I really empathised with Lessa when she became Weyrwoman and basically got reduced to… well, "woman do what man say, man fight, woman stay behind to look after home". I despised R'gul, and when it was time for Ramoth's first mating flight, I became genuinely worried and half-convinced that he was going to solidify his power by keeping F'lar out of the picture until it was over. I cannot overstate my relief when he was unseated, nor my satisfaction as he was repeatedly proven wrong about his beliefs over the course of the rest of the story.

Speaking of F'lar, by the way, I got really frustrated with him at multiple points. It seemed like all the things about Lessa that made him want her to become Weyrwoman suddenly become a problem for him once she actually was Weyrwoman. Not to mention that it really felt at times like he was blaming her for not knowing enough, when he should have been well aware that R'gull kept her education very limited. It felt a bit like making someone wear a blindfold to your home and then getting angry when they can't name the colour of the carpet.

As stated above, I have started reading Dragonquest, and I appreciate that the time travel solution, though it solved their problems in the short term, doesn't end up being a perfect deus ex machina; there are consequences being felt even seven years later.

All in all, I’m glad I read it, and once I’ve finished Dragonquest, I will almost certainly check out Dragonsdawn.

#feanix reads pern #dragonriders of pern #dragonflight

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shadow-trolls · 2 years

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Lollipop for Sylfah. She REALLY wants to lick Circin's fins

"Mmm.....given current situations I think its time for another land break....I should text circin."

She pulls her palmhusk out and texts circin

"Aye, meet me at the docks."

@stuckstucktrolls

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le-velo-pour-dru · 3 months

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hi dru!! for the ask game (but also just in general), how has your day been? :D

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiii Jaye!! 😊🩷 Today's been really nice!! :D We celebrated my and my sister's birthday today by going to a skating rink with my best friend and my grandparents (which maybe you heard some things about from the saga of Family Circinal?). I had a lot of fun there!! I got to go rollerskating, which I rarely ever get to do, and I got to spend time with my sister and my friend, which was great :) 🩷 After that we went to a restaurant and had a very good meal :D 💖 Since then, I've just been chilling at home, which is more boring than earlier today but still nice :D So yeah! Things have been pretty good!! 😁🩷

#dru speaks #thanks for asking!! :D 🫶💖#i hope you've had a good day too ^^ 💖#also to clarify: today's not my birthday‚ it's just easier to celebrate it on the weekend rather than during the week :P #asks #battlecriesandroses

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sparring-spirals · 2 years

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I honestly adoring those episode, it has everything I could have hope for

FCG discovering their soul, that they developed themselves

The group fighting (literally) for Laudna

The interactions between VM and BH where perfect, Percy’s understandable anger towards the thought of being Delilah back, Vex’s guilt because she feel responsible for Laudna’s first death, and Pike just being Pike, the best damn baker

Oh, I am absolutely with you on that. GOD what an episode!!!! So many highlights!!!!!! So many fascinating character interactions and conversations and onion-peeling-layers and smidges of angst and determination and love and- nice. NICE. Im still so excited that everything is kind of coming out in interconnected jumbles, and I am absolutely going to end up writing individual metas about more of these, but suffice it to say:

(i got so excited, this got long, sorry. its basically like 5 different seeds of metas)

- I loved F.C.G's reaction to getting definitive proof they were alive. I love that it was almost less joyous and a little more scared. Because it IS scary! All this time, F.C.G has been living their life for others, divining their purpose from others, they haven't really been living like they were. Alive. Realizing you have a life on your own terms, under your own control, is freeing, and that freedom can be scary! and kind of shitty, sometimes! You have all this space to fuck up. You have all this responsibility if you do. F.C.G realizes they have a life, they are alive, their life matters. and their first reaction is "well, shit." thats SO GOOD. "Well, I have to live." "Unfortunately, true." 👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌🥳🥳🥳🥳

- I'm a little less confident on my reads of Vox Machina but from what I knew I really liked how those conversations played out. It all made sense to me. which is nice. Percy with his family and hard won peace around him, seeing his worst fears rise up and threaten. Vex with guilt around her shoulders but the chance to help. Pike with that kindness and sincerity and flour on her clothes and being unused to reviving again but so good at helping. And also Keyleth really needing a nap and a few hugs maybe. Someone get that gal some calming tea, stat. The interplay- Vex touching Laudna's ears, Pike watching everyone with entertainment, THE ASHTON AND PERCY CONVERSATION. god that conversation

- I've got so many feelings about Bell's Hells literally fighting for Laudna, fighting through a mindscape comprised of Laudna's personal demons. I've got SO many. Some people have already written excellent posts about it (@c-is-for-circinate's post here, and @mockingmolly s post here, come to mind), and I already waxed poetic about it right after the episode but like. its so good! its symbolic and sweet and weighted and poetic and like. When Pike proposed it, they all said yes, almsot immediately, with almost no hesitation. This party of people who were always so eager to dive into each others problems, to help each other, getting to LITERALLY. Dive in and fight and help and save. And they did it through a weird fucked up slumber party. perf. (and i JUST READ A OSOT ABOUT THIS and need ti add it here and its about how laudna Isnt Getting A Say In It rn as well intentioned as it is which. also makes it. kind of fucked. god this needs its own post but like. yea.)

- you didnt mention this explicitly but the ashton and percy convo and tbh everything about how ashton reacted to these massively powerful people- the unsureness and reservations then just- straight up opening up to Percy, in a way, in their fury. the changes in them moving them to anger, still, but of a different sort. pleading, but angrily, furious, trying to push reason. so offensive their defense dropped. that conversation was SOMETHING.

- Also not mentioned but like. Imogen, my gal. My buddy. my darling. oh boy.

- chet's little kindnesses and reactions through the ep were also Something

- i hope fearne steals something

anyway sorry lost the plot a little here but YES what an EPISODE i am HOLLERING and BLOWING AIRHORNS 🥳

#(i had a drink and got excited writing this sorry but YES what an episode. so much to unpack)#critical role #cr spoilers #spar speaks #ask away!#c3e36 #....#character meta #?#of a sort

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mzminola · 2 years

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Book Recs

Imperial Radch trilogy (each title has the word Ancillary) by Ann Leckie: far-future science fiction about a spaceship’s AI that used to have many networked human bodies as appendages, and is now in just one human body (not even the ship left) on a revenge quest.

The first book is non-linear to keep up the suspense, the next two books are linear. Explores characters being simultaneously victims of and enforcers or imperialism. Doesn’t gloss over the horrors of war/colonialism/imperialism, but doesn’t get glurgey about it either.

Neat stuff with culture, language, gender, and personhood. Mystery and political machinations.

Provenance by Ann Leckie: set in the same verse but a different part of the galaxy, stands alone but contains massive spoilers for the trilogy. Set in a three-gender culture and has a supporting character that’s non-trinary. Family drama wrapped up in inter-system political problems, mystery. It might be a coming of age story? The main character is an adult but a big theme is her figuring out what she really wants out of life, rather than what she was raised to want.

Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold: sci-fic, not as far-future as Imperial Radch. The author came up with the concept of “uterine replicators” and then played out the many different ways they could affect cultures to adopt their usage.

Primary series is a military/mercenary drama following one family. The planet Barrayar was isolated for many centuries (maybe millennia) when their wormhole collapsed, and when a new one opened they were immediately invaded and then fought off the invaders and conquered the intermediary system that had let them through. Set after that conquest, explores the long-lasting fallout. A feudal empire with limited tech suddenly being reintroduced to the wider galaxy. Lots of culture clash.

Tries to be anti-ableist, but stumbles, sometimes badly. Author follows the rule of “How can I make this situation worse for the main characters?” which can get wearing in the wrong mood. Tend to be quick reads though (or maybe that’s just me).

Ethan of Athos by Lois McMaster Bujold: a stand-alone in the same verse as Vorkosigan Saga. Only one character from the main series appears, you don’t need to read the rest. An obstetrician from a men-only monastery planet has to leave his planet for a hub-space-station because their ovarian donations from their founding are no longer viable, and their first shipment arrived sabotaged. He needs to obtain more directly, and if possible find out what went wrong.

Then he meets a cute telepathic twink being pursued by an evil empire.

Lois McMaster Bujold’s five-gods-world fantasy series. Individual books are longer than the Vorkosigan Saga ones tend to be, and I feel they’re more tightly structured (as in there are a lot of moving parts tightly woven together). Medieval-ish.

Curse of Chalion: main character recently escaped being a galley-slave, makes his way home only to get mixed up in breaking the curse on the royal family. Very good take on the prophecy for breaking it being descriptive, not prescriptive. Lots of dominoes set up through the story that are satisfying when they fall.

Paladin of Souls: direct sequel. One of the victims of the curse survived, and spent most of Chalion being a Cassandra/Ophelia. Now she’s the main character and is getting out of the estate she was stuck in. Finds a major mystery to investigate in a border-guarding castle. Demons and the god whose domain they’re a part of are involved.

The Hallowed Hunt: same verse, completely different country, can stand alone. The investigator and suspect in a murder have to work together to figure out what the HELL is going on. Ancient plots, kingsmoot, animal spirit binding, human spirit stuff. I think this is one where a supporting character is a pregnant priestess who’s also got a demon tied to her and so has to keep letting out chaos magic so it won’t affect the pregnancy.

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde: WEIRD in a very fun way. First of the Thursday Next series, if you like this one you’ll like the rest. Modern-era alternate universe Britain in which dirigibles are still common travel, dodos and mammoths have been cloned back into existence, the Chrimea war has been off-and-on for decades, and there are over twenty different levels of police departments because all the weird shit needs to be compartmentalized.

Our main character is a Literary Detective, dealing with forged first editions and fake lost Shakespeare plays. BUT her former college professor Acheron Hades has stolen her uncle’s tech that lets you travel into the world of books, and anything you do to the original manuscript affects ALL copies. He’s kidnapped Jane Eyre and is holding her for ransom, after killing off a minor character in another famous book to show he means business.

Along the way Thursday helps Spike (the sole officer in another department that hunts things that go bump in the night), meets up with her dad (ex-Chrono Guard who’s been erased from the timestream after going rogue), and watches the mammoth migration while feeding marshmallows to her pet dodo Pickwick.

Each chapter starts with an epigraph from an in-universe book. It’s delightful.

#book recs #c is for circinate #literature

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